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Would you like to save money and improve the environment?

Now that the clocks have gone back and the nights are drawing in it’s time to think about how we can use electricity more efficiently – so switching to LED bulbs makes real sense.

Save energy with LEDs

LED bulbs are the most energy efficient and eco friendly way to light your home. All LEDs from the Ecotopia shop come in the same shapes and sizes as conventional light bulbs and last for up to 22 years.

We worked out that you could possibly save over £120 by switching one halogen spotlight for an LED equivalent over the course of its lifetime.

Ecotricity are offering you some of the most competitively priced LEDs on the market, and we have over 90 lines for you to choose from :-)

FREE LED torch with every LED bulb order at Ecotopia!

Plus, as a gift to you, we’re giving away a FREE LED torch with every LED bulb order, while stocks last!

Ecotricity #1 in the customer survey rankings

We are thrilled that green energy suppliers Ecotricity has returned to number one in the rankings with the fewest customer complaints in the energy industry despite experiencing unprecedented growth in the first quarter of 2014.

Consumer champion Which? has released figures this June which show the Big Six energy companies received a total of 1.7 million customer complaints in the first quarter of 2014, the highest number received in one single quarter since records began in 2012.

You can view the customer complaints league table for all energy companies, including the smaller independent suppliers that now receive more than half of all customer switches here.

The best performing Big Six energy company is Scottish Power with 13.57 complaints per 100 customers, while Ecotricity has just 1.93 complaints per 1000 customers.

Massive upheavals in the sector appear to be effecting customer service across the industry, with both Big Six energy companies and some independents struggling with customer service standards.

Many smaller energy companies, like Ecotricity, have experienced unprecedented growth over the past three to six months.

In our case, the number of customers we supply grew 26% in just the first three months of 2014 and shows no sign of slowing down. And in the past six months we’ve recruited and trained more than 100 new customer service staff – a 91% rise – to keep pace with the workload, to maintain staff-to-customer ratios and prepare for further growth, because excellent customer service is a core part of what we do.

This rate of growth can be expected to bring with it some problems in maintaining customer service levels and this looks to be occurring elsewhere within the industry.

These figures also show that complaints to the Big Six continue to grow despite their relative poor performance on customer service, because they have systemic problems with how they treat customers, while any issues with smaller suppliers should hopefully be a temporary problem.

Ecotricity’s customer numbers had grown by 26% in the three months between January and March this year and by over 40% from 71,000 to 100,000 in the six months to between October 2013 and March 2014.

Make the switch to green energy today

You too can switch to Ecotricity online at www.ecotricity.co.uk/dorset-energized or call us on 08000 302 302 and quote ‘Dorset Energized’ plus you’ll receive a free £60 Naked Wines voucher to celebrate.

UK government accused of ignoring own research on energy policy.

The majority of people in Britain would prefer to live near a wind farm than a fracking site, new YouGov research commissioned by Ecotricity revealed today.

When given the choice, 62% said they would rather have a wind farm in their local council area than a fracking site, with just 19% preferring to have fracking nearby.

The research comes as Ecotricity founder Dale Vince today accused the Government of contradicting its own research on public attitudes to onshore wind.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has been conducting its own Public Attitudes Tracking Survey since July 2012 – with the latest results showing that 64% support onshore wind, with only 28% of people supporting fracking in the UK.

But while both polls reflect a continued public preference for onshore wind over fracking, the Government is reportedly preparing pre-election promises to the contrary, with generous tax breaks and planning short cuts for fracking – while potentially bringing the development of onshore wind energy to an end.

Dale Vince, Ecotricity founder, said:“You have to ask why the Government is ignoring the results of its own surveys on both wind energy and fracking – they are actively going against public opinion on both issues. If Cameron and the Conservatives believe that wind energy is worth opposing because it is unpopular, who do they think it is unpopular with? The Government’s own polling clearly shows that they can’t be thinking about the general population.

“What level of approval does wind power need in order to shape the Prime Minister’s energy policy? Wind currently has a higher approval rating than Cameron has himself. The Prime Minister would kill for the level of public approval wind energy has currently, but unfortunately Britain has a very undemocratic approach to energy policy at the moment: wind power will be under attack from Eric Pickles for another 12 months leading up to the election, which will allow the Government to ignore planning experts and public opinion in its ongoing attack on onshore wind.”

Reports suggest that the Government is to offer greater commitment to solar and offshore wind at the expense of onshore wind, while the attack on onshore wind continued last week as the Communities and Local Government Secretary, Eric Pickles, announced an extension to a special planning policy enabling him to call-in and make personal decisions on renewable energy projects for another 12 months.

Dale continued: “Sacrificing onshore wind for offshore wind and solar makes no economic sense, especially in these times of austerity and cuts. Onshore wind is the cheapest form of renewable energy available to us; large solar projects cost bill payers 50% more per unit of energy made, while offshore wind costs 100% more than onshore.

“We need all three forms of renewables for our long term energy security, and keeping onshore wind in the mix keeps the overall cost of green energy down. It’s illogical to pay more for green energy than you need to – and this from a government that only recently blamed the cost of supporting green energy for the rising price of our nation’s energy bills.

“Government policy on this issue makes no sense, whether you measure it by public opinion, financial cost or the energy security. It only makes sense if you see it as political manoeuvring, or perhaps an attempt to minimise the electoral threat posed by UKIP. But we need an energy policy driven by facts not politics, working in the long-term interest of our country – and that would have to incorporate onshore wind.”

Highlights from Ecotricity research

Wind power preferred over fracking
62% said they would rather have a wind farm in their local council area than a fracking site, with just 19% preferring to have fracking nearby.

Fracking is more popular with the older generation
Of those that favour fracking over wind, 29% are over 60, while only 12% are 18-24

Fracking less popular with women than men
9% of women would prefer a fracking site compared to 68% preferring wind
29% of men would prefer a fracking site compared to 56% preferring wind

About Ecotricity

Ecotricity was founded in 1995 as the world’s first green energy company and now powers over 100,000 homes and businesses from a growing fleet of wind and sun parks. Ecotricity is a ‘not-for-dividend’ enterprise that, on average, invests more per customer in building new sources of green electricity than all other energy companies in Britain put together.

Ecotricity is the only energy company that has pledged to be shale gas ‘frack-free’, now and forever. Ecotricity will never invest in or buy shale gas from fracking to supply to customers.

Ecotricity have got some good news: you may remember that last September we announced that we would be freezing our prices, over winter, until 1st April.

We’re now announcing a further price freeze, through the spring and summer, until 1st October 2014.

With this extended freeze, we won’t have increased prices for 21 months – meaning we’ll have the longest period of price stability in the energy industry. Our single electricity and gas tariffs are as stable as a fixed price deal, but without any strings – no exit fees, no penalties, and our best price for everyone, regardless of when they joined or how they choose to pay.

The other good news is that on Wednesday last week we reached 100,000 customers!

It’s a very big milestone, and one we’ve had in our sights for some time – nearly 50,000 people have joined us since last summer, which is quite incredible.

It all began last summer when we moved to a single 100% green tariff for electricity, reduced our prices slightly as part of a new policy to cost less than the Big Six, and then froze prices twice over the following winter.

Our two pieces of news are linked. With 100,000 customers we have some economies of scale and – coupled with it being a very good year for wind – we’re able to absorb those of our costs that are rising, and keep yours where they are. Our investment in new sources of green energy hasn’t just insulated us from fossil fuel price movements, because the cost of wind doesn’t go up – but when the wind blows well we have an additional benefit – which we’re keen to share with our customers.

People Power in Action

Our mission is to change where Britain’s energy comes from – to bring about energy independence and sustainability. The more customers we have, the more new sources of green energy we can build, the more we can protect our customers from price rises. It’s a virtuous circle, and it’s People Power in action.

Speaking of People Power, have a look at our latest short film about fracking – we’ve put this together to lend support to local communities opposed to shale gas fracking and to highlight the fact that many British households are inadvertently supporting shale gas through their energy bills.

You can switch to Ecotricity online at www.ecotricity.co.uk/dorset-energized or call us on 08000 302 302 and quote ‘Dorset Energized’ to receive a free £60 Naked Wines voucher to celebrate!

(Photo: Dorset Energized’s Co-founder Vince Adams is on the top just in right of the green man!)

Last Thursday 6th March 2014, down in Brighton, and with the help of Caroline Lucas (Green party MP) – and Vince from Dorset Energized – Ecotricity launched our latest anti Fracking initiative. The centrepiece of that is our latest animation, which you can find here:

We’ve big hopes that it’ll go viral as our ‘Dump The Big 6′ video did a couple of years ago, achieving global fame and some 3 million hits.

Fracking is a very serious subject and our government seem hell bent on imposing it on Britain – we hope a little humour will be an effective weapon, coupled with our Frack Free gas promise which enables people to boycott Fracking – a powerful weapon itself if it catches on.

Green Electricity + Car will not only power customers homes with green energy but also their cars (either 100% electric or plug-in hybrids), plus they’ll get free access to Ecotricity’s national network of fast chargers – the Electric Highway.

This latest move comes after Ecotricity announced a price freeze for all gas and electricity customers until the end of winter (April 1st 2014), making them cheaper than the standard tariff of the Big Six energy companies.

Dale Vince, founder of Britain’s leading green energy company, Ecotricity, said: “To get the greatest environmental benefit from an electric car, it needs to be charged using 100% green electricity from the wind and the sun – otherwise you’re still powering it from dirty fossil fuels. Ecotricity’s new tariff ensures customers with electric cars are recharging at home with green energy and as a bonus they’ll get at least 1000 free miles worth of electricity.

“And when away from home – drivers of electric cars will also have access to the Electric Highway which will allow fast-charging at 90% of motorway service stations around Britain. So when you’re out and about you can still drive with zero emissions.”

Ecotricity is launching the Green Electricity + Car tariff to coincide with Volkswagen bringing its first electric car – the e-up! city car – to the British market

Ecotricity have signed a partnership deal with Volkswagen Group (UK) Limited, the UK importer of Volkswagen Passenger Cars and Commercial Vehicles, Audi, SEAT and ŠKODA, to be their official green energy supplier, meaning all customers purchasing an electric car from one of the Group brands will be offered the new Ecotricity tariff and a free smart meter installation.

Vince said: “Ecotricity is a twenty-first century energy company; combining the two types of traditional energy company: one that provides power to your home using electricity and gas, and the other that provides power to your car using petrol and diesel.

“Now a single energy company can provide power to both your home and your car from the same clean, green, renewable sources.”

The launch comes as the Electric Highway continues to expand, with an average of four new £20,000 chargers being installed each week. It is fast becoming a truly national charging network for electric vehicles and will cover 90% of Britain’s motorways by the Spring. It allows EV drivers to travel the length and breadth of Britain and re-charge in the time it takes to enjoy a cup of coffee.

I believe Ecotricity’s awesome customer service is the best in the business – we topped the 2014 Which? Energy Consumer Satisfaction Survey and have the fewest customer complaints of any energy company.

Green Electricity + Car – the 1,000 free miles is based on the pricing difference between our Green Electricity and Green Electricity + Car tariffs on the basis of an average total electricity consumption of 6.000kWh (9,000kWh for Economy 7) and assumes you drive 10,000 miles per annum and charge at home. It also assumes 1 kWh = 3.88 miles (Volkswagen data).

It’s really easy to switch to Ecotricity and only takes a few minutes

Either switch online at www.ecotricity.co.uk or call us on 08000 302 302 and Ecotricity will take care of everything for you. Feel free to call us if you have any further questions, and if you click through from here or quote ‘Dorset Energized’ you’ll get a £60 Naked Wines voucher too to celebrate!

Britain’s first green energy company Ecotricity has announced that the gas it sources for its customers will be free of gas from Fracking – the controversial process of extracting gas, which is being developed in Britain.

Frack-Free Gas Promise

In an industry first, Ecotricity’s ‘Frack-Free Gas’ promise gives householders and businesses in Britain the opportunity to not only avoid using Fracked gas – but also avoid supporting the Fracking industry with their energy bills.

Ecotricity founder, Dale Vince, said: “Fracking for shale gas will entrench the use of fossil fuels in Britain for decades to come – at the expense of the switch to clean green energy – we can see that happening already.”

He said there were clear environmental risks involved with the hydraulic fracturing process, that were well documented from other parts of the world and Briton’s deserved transparency from energy suppliers and the choice to conscientiously object to the practice.

“The majority of people in Britain simply don’t want Fracking to take place and we think they should be able to choose not to buy gas from such sources. We’re giving people the chance to be conscientious objectors on this issue, to make sure their gas bill money does not support this rather desperate and damaging process.”

The Gloucestershire-based energy company has arrangements in place to ensure that Fracked gas does not enter its gas supply chain.

Vince continued: “People want to be able to choose what they eat and don’t eat – labelling of food enables that – GM-free food is a good example. Green Electricity is also labelled to guarantee its origin.

“We’re extending that concept – Ecotricity’s gas supply now has its own guarantee of origin – it will remain ‘Frack-Free’ so our customers can be sure they will not be supporting the shale gas industry with money from their energy bills.”

Ecotricity was founded in 1995 as the world’s first green energy company. Now powering over 75,000 homes and businesses from its growing fleet of Wind and Sun parks, Ecotricity is a ‘not-for-dividend’ enterprise that, on average, invests more per customer in building new sources of green electricity than any other energy company in Britain.

Switch to green energy

Switch to Ecotricity through Dorset Energized and you’ll receive a £60 Naked Wines voucher (as well as 100% green electricity and green gas)!

Ecotricity has announced a price freeze for all gas and electricity customers until the end of winter 2014.

The green energy company had previously announced a price freeze until the New Year just as the Big Six announced price increases of up to 10% – Ecotricity are now extending that price freeze until at least the end of winter for both their 100% Green Electricity and Green Gas tariffs.

Dale Vince, Ecotricity founder, said: “Energy bills are a big part of the cost of living in Britain, and there is simply not enough being done to solve the problem. The Big Six are increasing prices by up to 10% just before winter, the Government is playing politics by blaming ‘green taxes’, and the regulator has not been strong enough ever.

“If we continue the way we are now, we’re going to see energy bills increase significantly over the next decade – we could even see them double.

“There is another way – our model of using our customer energy bills to build new sources of green energy, what we call bills into mills; it’s working for our customers, and it’s a model we think is right for Britain. We’re not just making greener energy, we’re making cheaper energy – and we’re demonstrating how that works now by freezing prices until the end of winter.”

Ecotricity has reached a degree of energy independence by building its own green energy sources, and this enabled the company to announce a price promise in October 2013, to always undercut the standard regional tariff of the Big Six – providing green energy for less than the standard price of brown (fossil fuels).

Dale said: “We now produce around 40% of our own energy through our own green sources, and the more we build the better able we are to shield our customers from price hikes that come with a reliance on the fossil fuel market. That’s the way Britain has to go, because only energy independence can properly tackle rising fuel bills.

“The alternative is where we are now – a continuing reliance on fossil fuels, ever-increasing energy bills, and more people falling into fuel poverty every year.”

Ecotricity spends more per customer on building new sources of green energy than all other energy providers in Britain put together – on average, over the last nine years, this has equated to almost £300 per customer per year.

Ecotricity generates around 40% of its own electricity through green sources, and has planning permission for enough new sources of green energy to double that percentage.

Dale said: “The energy industry has to change. It needs to serve the people of Britain, not the largely foreign owners of the Big Six. Putting prices up at the start of this winter is a good example of what’s wrong: it’s cynical timing just as consumption doubles, and it’s just not justified by wholesale energy prices. In the end, it’s the people of Britain who are losing out.”

Ecotricity has an Ethical Price Promise, which means that every customer gets the same 100% Green Electricity or Green Gas tariff and everyone gets the same, best price, regardless of when they signed up or how they pay…

Ecotricity are pleased to launch our partnership with Dorset Energized and support the work they do help empower people to live a more sustainable life.

We’re an energy company unlike any other. We take the money our customers spend on their electricity and gas bills and turn it into new sources of Green Energy.

When we talk about green energy we mean 100% Green Electricity made from the wind and the sun and Green Gas – that comes with a ‘Frack Free’ guarantee. People are really beginning to turn against the Big Six energy companies, to question where their energy comes from. The reaction to fracking plans in Balcombe and elsewhere is evidence of that, and at Ecotricity we have ensured that none of our gas will come from fracking, and our electricity is always 100% Green.

And we don’t just supply green energy, we make it ourselves with our rapidly growing fleet of renewable energy parks.

As the Big Six Energy companies continue to increase prices by as much as 10%, we have frozen ours until next year. And we have a Price Promise too – that we will always be cheaper than the standard Big Six electricity tariff in your region and the standard gas price from British Gas wherever you live.

As a not-for-dividend company, with no shareholders or investors to keep happy, we’re free to dedicate our money to our mission – changing the way energy is made and used in Britain. And on average we continue to spend more per customer, per year, than all of the other energy companies in Britain put together.

Electricity is the biggest single source of carbon emissions in Britain – but it’s not the only one of course. The big three are Energy, Transport and Food: between them accounting for 80% of all of our personal carbon footprints. The one thing they have in common is that Energy plays a vital role in them all. That’s why we extended our work beyond the boundaries of traditional energy companies.

In Transport we built the Nemesis, Britain’s first electric super car – to demonstrate how cars of the future could actually be wind powered. Next came our Electric Highway, the world’s first national network of charging stations – to kick-start the electric car revolution in Britain, find out more here.

Partnerships with organisations like Dorset Energized are so important to helping create a Green Britain and revolutionise where our energy comes from. Switching energy supplier is one of the easiest and single biggest things you can do to make a change.

Lets Get Energized with Renewable Energy!

Lets Get Energized is your online guide to renewable energy and sustainable living with the latest news, views and tips plus exclusive special offers to help you save energy and money, beat rising energy prices, combat climate change and be more self sufficient – right now, and for your future...